WashU Medicine Sep 9 2025 Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in children under age 5, and nearly 150 million children globally under this age have stunted growth from lack of nutrition. Although an inadequate diet is a major contributor, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found over a decade ago that dysfunctional communities of gut microbes play an important role in triggering malnutrition. Now, in work done in collaboration with the Salk Institute and